You Can't Go Home Again (Battlestar Galactica) - Plot

Plot

Starbuck is forced to bail out over an inhospitable planet after her Viper was badly damaged during a dog fight with a Cylon Raider. On Galactica, one of the pilots reports that Starbuck's Viper was still maneuvering and may have survived. Commander Adama goes against the reservations of Col. Tigh to organize a rescue mission to find her.

Starbuck finds herself stranded on a barren world with an inhospitable atmosphere. With a badly injured knee, she struggles to get to high ground hoping a Galactica search team can spot her. She sees the Cylon Raider that attacked her, disabled but intact, sitting nearby. She forces open its hatch discovering that the interior resembles the internal organs of a creature rather a machine. She uses the inside of the ship as a shelter as her suit oxygen begins to run low.

Back on Galactica, the search for Starbuck is going badly. Visibility around the planet is poor and the Vipers are burning up huge amounts of fuel during atmospheric recon ops. The planet's dusty conditions are causing mechanical problems, grounding many of the ships. President Roslin is startled when she hears that Adama has also pulled the Vipers out of the fleet's Combat Air Patrol (CAP) in order to join the search. President Roslin confronts Adama and his son, Lee. The reason Adama will not give up the search is that Starbuck is the final link to his dead son, Zak Adama. He realizes the search must be abandoned and the fleet should jump away as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Starbuck finds an oxygen supply within the raider and begins to hack away at muscle and tendon-like tendrils. She finds what appear to be the controls and teaches herself how to operate it. She manages to activate the ship's drives and escapes the planet to return to the fleet. As final jump preparations are underway, the Galactica suddenly detects the incoming Cylon Raider on DRADIS. It will be on top of the fleet before they can jump; Adama is forced to halt the jump countdown and launches the alert fighters.

Capt. Apollo attempts to shoot down the raider in his Viper, but fails as it seems unusually skillful and agile. The raider pulls overhead and begins flying in formation with Apollo. After spotting the words "Star" and "Buck" spelled out in insulation tape under the Raider's wings, Apollo realizes who the pilot is, and escorts the raider to the hangar deck. Safe on Galactica, Adama and Starbuck reconcile over Zak's death.

Meanwhile, on Caprica, Helo and Caprica-Boomer hide out at the shelter until a Cylon patrol arrives. During the Cylon Centurion attack, Helo and Boomer become separated. When Helo regains consciousness in the shelter after the attack, he desperately searches for her but there is no sign of Boomer. Helo is unaware that he himself is being watched by the Cylons.